


in the recycle bin

by reafterthought



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure tri., Digimon Xros Wars | Digimon Fusion
Genre: (re)processing factory, Canon-ish, Gen, Race Against Time, doesn't contradict canon atm anyway, ffn challenge: The Presents Under the Tree! DFC 2017 Christmas Event, ffn challenge: The Valentines to White's Day Advent 2015, ffn challenge: diversity writing challenge, interseason crossover, old and new demons, word count: 10001-19999 words
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 13:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13191162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reafterthought/pseuds/reafterthought
Summary: The digital world is constantly modified, like any other operating system. It is full of bugs, like any other network. Things vanish into the nameless black space, like any other hard-drive. Sometimes, those things can be dragged back if they're in an unemptied recycle bin. And Ryouma's diving head-first into that mess looking for four Chosen before they're gone.





	in the recycle bin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wizarmonfan (Copperfur)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Copperfur/gifts).



> Am running a little behind on Christmas presents, but real life likes to get in the way. This one's for Tomoe! Enjoy!
> 
> The Presents Under the Tree! DFC 2017 Christmas Event!  
> Diversity Writing Challenge, i14 - a multichap with a prologue and an epilogue  
> The Valentines to White's Day Advent 2015, day 29 - white rose

The digital world is constantly modified, like any other operating system. It is full of bugs, like any other network. Things vanish into the nameless black space, like any other hard-drive. Sometimes, those things can be dragged back into being, if they're still sitting in an unemptied recycle bin.

They check, of course: they check every step of the process. Different checkers, in different places and times… and so the Old Clock Man, as he's now called, finds an oddity in data soon to be struck out of existence forever.

He remembers Quartzmon, after all, and how the entire world including the humans within were quartised. That's not quite the same as turning them into digital world data, but it's similar. Similar enough to catch this. Different enough that he can't correct it remotely.

It's a pity, because he quite likes the human he works with now, and he doesn't want these four erased from the world. It's a pity, because he can't do a whole lot from here. He's an old man, after all, made from an old digimon. He's accumulated far too many demons to swim through discarded data like that.

Which leaves his hunters, but who can do the job? The digimon run the risk of crumbling themselves, in a world where all data is shredded into scraps and not even the king of the digital world has lived long enough to maintain form and presence without that. So the humans… but what human child will go into the reprocessing factory alone?

…of course, one who has no partner to lose, but one to gain. But, he wonders, will it be too cruel to ask? There is no guarantee, after all, and he has demons aplenty to entertain. But that might be good for him, too. He is young enough to overcome them. Or human enough.

He wonders which it is, but it doesn't matter because he himself is neither of them.


End file.
